Grindelwald to Rome via Lugano in 1 day

  • chandni177
    Participant
    55 posts
    14 March 2018 at 17:43:10 #814769

    Hi Forum,

    We will be departing Grindelwald for Rome on 18th May. Assuming that we would like to reach Rome by say 8pm, do you think it is feasible to make a side trip to Lugano? Maybe spend a few hours and then take train to Milan, and then onwards to Rome?

    Lugano – Milan : 1hr, Milan-Rome:3hrs

    If this looks not too crazy, which route would you recommend taking from Grindelwald to Lugano? We are in the middle of our rail pass calculations, but they might depend on the outcome of this decision.

    Thanks a lot once again for being ever helpful!

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    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    14 March 2018 at 20:05:42 #878808

    Hi Chandni177,

    If you want to arrive in Rome by 20:00 you’d have to leave Grindelwald on the 12:49 departure on May 18. This trip is just over 7 hours with 3 connections – use the Swiss railways timetable to plan your trip.

    Unfortunately, Grindelwald to Lugano is 5 hours and Lugano to Rome is another 5 hours. So this really makes for a long day!

    Yes, best case Lugano to Milan is 1 hour 15 minutes but only on certain trains. Then Milan to Rome is 3 hours and a bit (best case) – again depending on the train you can connect to. Searching the timetable for “Lugano” to “Rome” will give you the quickest connections on your date/time of travel.

    chandni177
    Participant
    55 posts
    14 March 2018 at 20:08:51 #878809

    Yes, I’m realizing that. Also just saw that my parents land in Milan on the 12th at 6:30pm, and the Milano Centrale train station is 1hr away from the airport. Now the new conundrum is whether they should take a bus or train to Lugano and spend the night there. It will be too late to come to Grindewald (where I was initially going to book 6 nights, haven’t booked yet)

    chandni177
    Participant
    55 posts
    14 March 2018 at 20:10:48 #878810

    This is difficult! 🙁

    We were planning a day trip to Lucerne from Grindelwald during our 6 day stay. Maybe the rest of the group can spend 12th night in Lucerne, and I will ask Mom Dad to take the train from Lugano to Lucerne the next morning? We won’t see them until the 13th, but one more scenic train for them I guess!

    Thoughts?

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    15 March 2018 at 9:09:13 #878811

    Yes, it is a nice trip from Lugano to Lucerne – if they go via Göschenen. If they go direct they end up in the Gotthard Base Tunnel for 60km and will miss a lot of scenery.

    chandni177
    Participant
    55 posts
    15 March 2018 at 14:22:22 #878812

    Okay, I’l try to book them for the Gotthard Panoramic and see if we can get an upgrade.

    Any tips for overnight in Lugano? Their bus might reach late from Milan airport so I’m trying to keep it limited to near the bus/train stations in Lugano.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    15 March 2018 at 18:42:40 #878813

    I don’t have any recommendations for Lugano hotels myself.

    I’d recommend doing a search on hotelscombined though, they often have good rates. There are quite a few very close to the train station.

    chandni177
    Participant
    55 posts
    16 March 2018 at 4:05:19 #878814

    Got it. Thank you!

  • The thread ‘Grindelwald to Rome via Lugano in 1 day’ is closed to new replies.

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